The festival
Founded in 2008, the Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival is run by the nonprofit Philadelphia Asian American Film Foundation. It presents its main program of features, documentaries and shorts each November, alongside year-round screening series.
Worth knowing
PAAFF has become a fixture of Philadelphia's arts calendar, showcasing dozens of films each year that center Asian and Pacific Islander voices. It combines its annual festival with community-focused programs throughout the year.
How to attend
Tickets and passes are available through the PAAFF website, with screenings at Philadelphia venues each November.
Awards & submissions
Run by the nonprofit Philadelphia Asian American Film Foundation, PAAFF programmes film and media by, for and about the Asian and Pacific Islander diaspora, requiring at least one person of API descent in a key creative role or a subject rooted in the API experience, and it asks that all films screen with closed captions as part of an accessibility commitment. The main festival of features, documentaries and shorts runs each November, complemented by year-round screening series that have made it a fixture of Philadelphia’s arts calendar. Screenings are held at venues around the city, with tickets and passes sold through the PAAFF website. Filmmakers submit through FilmFreeway during the annual open call, with eligibility guidelines and deadlines posted online ahead of each edition.
Official site →Dates and programs change year to year — check the official site for the current edition.